Type 1 Diabetes-Associated Autoantibody Levels are not Reduced by a Gluten-Free Diet

Diabetes Care 25: 1111-1116

Celiac.com 08/08/2002 - Dr. Anette-G. Ziegler, of the Academic Teaching Hospital Muenchen-Schwabing in Munich, Germany, and colleagues looked at seven first-degree relatives of patients who had type 1 diabetes and were under seven years of age and found that their titers of type 1 diabetes-associated autoantibodies did not improve after one year on a gluten-free diet. At the same time the subjects IgG antibody titers to gliadin were reduced. The researchers conclude that even though studies have shown that a gluten-free diet protects against autoimmune diabetes in animal models, it does not appear to do so in humans, although there is research that shows that it can reduce the frequency of type 1 diabetes in patients with celiac disease. According to the researchers, gluten is not the driving antigen for type 1 diabetes-associated islet autoimmunity.